perfidy

Here is an excerpt from my journal, containing some of my thoughts on greatness and infamy. I wrote this about a year ago. 

I have devoted some thought to greatness, and what it is that makes someone great. I believe the first category of greatness is someone who leaves the world a better place than it was before their arrival and activities. Infamy, in contrast, is achieved when someone leaves the world in a worse position than it was before. Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Augusto Pinochet, Calvin Coolidge, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Heinrich Himmler are just a few political and military examples of infamy, in my opinion. I doubt, however, that Hitler, Himmler, Pinochet, and Stalin would generate much dissent from other voices. But what about greatness? Can greatness be tainted with infamy? Is there no clear good and evil at all? I would think that Himmler, Hitler, and Stalin were the face of evil without any redeeming characteristics whatever.

But sticking with twentieth century political examples, the great have a taint of infamy. Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill have long been considered by some historians to be untouchable pillars of greatness. But Roosevelt was a racist who saved capitalism in the United States rather than overseeing its transition to a socially responsible welfare state. He fooled around on his wife too, but shit, most people do that, it's just normal. Roosevelt's greatness lies in his stewardship of the United States in its most dire economic times, and preventing a complete collapse and catastrophe. In addition his administration saw the United States mostly through the second World War and US assistance in the destruction of the aforementioned face of evil in Germany. His infamy does lie in racism and prejudice, for example the internment of Japanese American citizens under Executive Order 9066, as well as the racism inherent in several New Deal programs. His infamy also lies in his role as the savior of American capitalism, and not taking the New Deal far enough to the left. He is great for what he did. He is infamous both for what he did and what he did not. 

Churchill, don't get me started. He and Lord Birkenhead did more to condemn Ireland to partition and civil war than any other English bastard. Lloyd George was Welsh, he doesn't count. He did more to condemn Ireland to partition and civil war than any other Welsh bastard. Churchill was a wanton imperialist, a member of the Conservative party, and a fat fuck. But his infamy was balanced with greatness. Perhaps were it not for Churchill and the English people of World War II, this journal would be written in German and there would be only praise for Hitler and Himmler. A bit far fetched I agree, since the US was conventionally unconquerable in all likelihood, but the world would be a different and much worse place were it not for Churchill the fat English bastard. His greatness lies in keeping the world from getting worse, his infamy in making Ireland worse than it could have been. A 32 county republic would also have resulted in a civil war, but then so did partition. Consider the Troubles initiated in 1972, and the fact that they have yet to end entirely. 

But to move from political to social greatness and keeping with the twentieth century, an era of which I am fond, there are examples. The ordinary men in extraordinary times in the United States Army, Navy, and Marines who fought World War II achieved greatness in that they kept the world from getting worse. The Soviet people, the bulwark of resistance to German imperialism sacrificed their lives in the millions, but I would rather glorify their actions than their unnecessary deaths, because there simply is no glory in death. The English have already been mentioned, though I should add the British, northern Irish, and the Irish who crossed the border to serve in the English military to defeat the greater evil. 

But social greatness, of course, is not always so big. A few days ago I saw a program on the Animal Planet network that described a young girl's campaign to outfit the K-9 units of her suburban police department with kevlar jackets. She collected enough money to get a vest for each and every dog on the force, something like six. This could conceivably save the lives of those dogs serving on the force. Few people outside of her suburb who don't watch Animal Planet know this, and I confess that I cannot remember her name, but she is great. That's it. It goes without saying, so of course I'll say it, that greatness and infamy are highly subjective. Many seem to have a little of both.